Abstract
Geospatial metadata are often encoded in formats that either are not aimed at efficient retrieval of resources or are plainly outdated. Particularly, the quantum leap represented by the Semantic Web did not induce so far a consistent, interlinked baseline in the geospatial domain. Datasets, scientific literature related to them, and ultimately the researchers behind these products are only loosely connected; the corresponding metadata intelligible only to humans, duplicated in different systems, seldom consistently. We address these issues by relating metadata items to resources that represent keywords, institutes, researchers, toponyms, and virtually any RDF data structure made available over the Web via SPARQL endpoints. Essentially, our methodology fosters delegated metadata management as the entities referred to in metadata are independent, decentralized data structures with their own life cycle. Our example implementation of delegated metadata envisages: (i) editing via customizable web-based forms (including injection of semantic information); (ii) encoding of records in any XML metadata schema; and (iii) translation into RDF. Among the semantics-aware features that this practice enables, we present a worked-out example focusing on automatic update of metadata descriptions. Our approach, demonstrated in the context of INSPIRE metadata (the ISO 19115/19119 profile eliciting integration of European geospatial resources) is also applicable to a broad range of metadata standards, including non-geospatial ones.
Highlights
In the last decade, terms including Open Data [1], Linked Data [2], RDF [3], and SPARQL [4] have been more and more associated with open-ness and data interoperability
Among the semantics-aware features that this practice enables, we present a worked-out example focusing on automatic update of metadata descriptions
It should be noted that association of URIs with metadata items constitute a pivotal prerequisite to further functionalities that are elicited by Semantic Web technologies, such as query expansion and inference
Summary
Terms including Open Data [1], Linked Data [2], RDF [3], and SPARQL [4] have been more and more associated with open-ness and data interoperability. To address management of geospatial resources in the framework proposed by the Semantic Web, metadata management cannot disregard the novel techniques that are elicited by the standards and practices defined in this context. These technologies did not induce so far a consistent, interlinked baseline in the geospatial domain. Our methodology allows normalizing metadata descriptions by pinpointing the entities (individuals, institutions, terms from controlled vocabularies, toponyms, etc.) that can be mapped to unique, externally managed resources identified with URIs [7] (or a specific fragment of these resources) and expressed as RDF. Current metadata management practices express multiple references to each of these entities as independent metadata fragments that require manual update and are prone to inconsistencies and heterogeneities
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